Ground worker flies in freezing temperatures on A321

In Istanbul, a Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 was being prepared for a flight to Athens. The cargo hold was then closed with a ground worker still locked inside.

In mid-December, a ground handler was loading luggage into the aircraft, registration TC-JMK. According to a recently published report, his colleagues closed the hatch without realizing he was still inside. He tried unsuccessfully to attract the attention of others by shouting for help and knocking on the door. While other employees thought he had gone to the toilet, the A321 took off with the handler still inside. Meanwhile, his colleagues began to wonder why the man was taking so long. When they reviewed the camera footage, they discovered they had locked him in the hold and reported the situation.

Air traffic control contacted the pilot of flight TK1843. The crew decided to divert to Izmir Airport, where the employee was removed from the hold. The man had to endure an hour in temperatures of 25 degrees below zero. During the flight, he crawled between the luggage and tried to keep warm with clothing from the suitcases. He narrowly escaped losing his legs. Only after a 3.5-hour hospital treatment could the man move his legs again.

Lawsuit

The employee still experiences the consequences of the incident. ‘I now receive psychological help, I am unemployed, and I go from hospital to hospital,’ he told a Turkish news channel. The man accuses his former colleagues of negligence and has filed a lawsuit.

United

This is not the first time a ground employee has accidentally flown in the cargo hold of an aircraft. In 2017, an identical incident occurred on a flight from Charlotte to Washington D.C. The flight was operated by Mesa Airlines on behalf of United with an Embraer 170. The employee was trapped in the hold for 1.5 hours.